This invention relates to the provision of information services, such as Internet services for example, which can be accessed by a subscriber via a mobile subscriber terminal, such as a mobile xe2x80x98phone.
The invention has particular application to the provision of such services utilising the infrastructure of a cellular radio telecommunications network such as that provided currently by GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) or by future third generation systems known as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System).
The invention exploits xe2x80x9cAgentxe2x80x9d technology by which means, software code can be moved from one host platform to another.
Applicants co-pending Application EP 99 400 773.0 describes a method for accessing an information service in a telecommunications network. The method includes the steps of detecting at a subscriber terminal a request input for an information service; comparing a parameter of the request input with a stored value; selecting an action list depending upon the comparison and transmitting a demand for execution of the action list to the network. The network responds by executing the action list and transmitting the requested information back to the subscriber terminal. Communication between the terminal and the network is performed by means of xe2x80x9cAgentsxe2x80x9d which are pieces of mobile software code.
Applicant""s co-pending Application EP 98 400 960.5 discloses a method of handling data in a system comprising a subscriber terminal and a communications network. This method provides a host platform for receiving an
Agent associated with the terminal permitting, at the host platform, communication between the Agent and at least one other Agent.
The purpose of an Agent is to transfer and receive information and to execute tasks. The Agent representing the subscriber terminal can be, for example, a Java(trademark) applet.
Pieces of software code can be encapsulated by or embedded in an Agent and can be specific to a subscriber terminal. It is thus possible to execute any kind of user-defined function on data gathered by the subscriber-associated Agent or provide services offered by existing service providers, for example, stock exchange fluctuation updates or bank account monitoring.
A host platform can be thought of as an Agent Meeting Place (AMP) and in the above reference this is located at a base station comprising a radio telecommunications system.
Each Agent Meeting Place comprises an Agent System which can create, interpret, execute and transfer Agents. Examples of suitable Agent systems are those defined by the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) and the Mobile Agent Facility Specification of the Object Management Group (MAFOMG). Agent systems provide security functions, for example authentication and information confidentiality functions, such as, data encryption.
An Agent Meeting Place (AMP) typically comprises, for example, a Yellow Pages service, a White Pages service, a unique naming service, a management system that controls the life-cycle and mobility of the Agent associated with a subscriber terminal and a transparent communications service. They can also provide a database facility to store data intended to stay on the AMP platform permanently. Communications between the Yellow Pages service, the White Pages service, the management system, the transparent communications service, or the database facility can be achieved by providing a respective Agent for each of the services or facility. Alternatively, the Yellow Pages service, the White Pages service, the management system, the transparent communications service, or the database facility can be a dedicated Agent containing the data stored by the Yellow Pages service, the White Pages service, the management system, the transparent communications service, or the database facility, respectively. The Yellow Pages service is a service provided to any Agent, by the AMP for looking-up services provided by other Agents residing locally at the respective AMP. The Yellow Pages service can optionally search all Agent systems forming an Agent community. The White Pages service is a service which covers all Agents which are currently resident on the AMP where the White Pages service is located, i.e. locally, for determining the existence of another Agent locally.
The address of an AMP can be, for example, a xe2x80x98phone number or a TCP/IP address and can be known by means of the Yellow Pages service. A default AMP address is assigned to each Agent in order to ensure an initial inter-Agent communications can be set up. AMPs can communicate with other AMPs or other Agent systems to exchange messages or Agents via the transparent communications service.
An Agent associated with a subscriber terminal can register and de-register with an AMP in the following, known manner.
The Agent associated with a subscriber terminal calls a toll-free number, and establishes a radio link between the terminal and the AMP.
The terminal""s Agent resides in a memory of the terminal on an aglet platform. The Agent is translated through Java on the terminal and then serialised through the underlying Java layers. The Agent is then transmitted to the AMP The Agent is sent, using a TCP/IP protocol known in the art, in packets, using a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).
Once received, the Agent is then deserialised, translated back through the underlying Java at the AMP and then reverts to aglet form, Access to the AMP is thereby achieved.
The Agent then registers with the AMP, in order to register to the Yellow Pages service, the White Pages service and the Agent management system of the AMP. The registration procedure uses the security functions defined by the service provider, i.e. authentication and information security. Consequently, the terminal""s Agent becomes known and accessible to any other Agents present at the AMP.
During the registration procedure, the terminal""s Agent can also provide information, for example, current information about the terminal represented by its Agent. The current information about the terminal can include the services capabilities of the terminal, for example, third party calling or conference calling, the radio link quality, bit rate, or maximum bit error rate. The current information can be stored in a database facility of the AMP by a database Agent.
The terminal""s Agent can then execute an assigned task or mission. The assigned task or mission can be a dialogue between the Agent and any other Agent residing at the AMP and/or a referral to the database facility of the AMP. The communication protocol between Agents is provided by the AMP, as specified by FIPA Agent Communication Language (ACL). The assigned task can also be the execution of Agent code on the AMP, for example, the performance of functions, such as on data. The execution of Agent code therefore allows functions to be carried out so as to manipulate the information or data gathered at the AMP.
If necessary, information is sent back to the terminal. At any time whilst its Agent resides at the AMP, the Agent can send messages to the terminal. This information is sent back via a Short Messaging Service (SMS). Also, at any time whilst the Agent resides at the AMP, a message can be sent to the Agent from the terminal in order to update it. This can be achieved via the toll-free number or by using the TCP/IP protocol as described above. The structure of the message is defined by various standards bodies, for example, FIPA or MAF-OMG, or by proprietary technology such as Agents. The information to update the Agent can be routed to the agent by means of addressing techniques known in the art, since the Agent and any other Agents resident at the AMP possess specific ID numbers associated with the Agents assigned by the unique naming service as described above.
The terminal""s Agent can de-register from the AMP. De-registration from the AMP removes all the references to the first Agent from the unique naming service, the Yellow Pages service, and the White Pages service. However, the references to the Agent in the database facility of the AMP can be retained. The Agent is then either killed or can migrate to another AMP or back to the terminal.
One aim of the present invention is to provide high value added services to match virtual and real worlds, through a decentralised approach integrated to a radio telecommunications network. Each user has a representative piece of mobile code i.e. An Agent that follows him in the service world as he moves. This opens up a new range of possibilities e.g. customisation of services at their source and new possibilities of service access.
As an example, when entering a shopping mall, it would be convenient to have a service for guiding the customer directly to those shops which have the goods he intends to buy, instead of him having to enter several shops before finding the article required.
Known technologies use a centralised access which links the radio telecommunications network to the world of services like the Internet. Such technologies are illustrated in the schematic block diagram of FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows a conglomeration of services 1 to 4 (e.g. Internet services) connected to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 5. These services 1 to 4 are accessible to the user of a mobile xe2x80x98phone 6 by means of a radio link to one of several base stations (BS) 7 to 10 which in turn, are connected to a mobile switching centre (MSC) 11. The base stations and the MSC comprise a radio telecommunications network with the MSC 11 being hard-wire connected to the PSTN 5.
Providing services with this known technology generates an additional burden of messages between base stations and the MSC and forms a bottle neck because the messages have to be transmitted through the PSTN to the services. The volume of messages generated by such services is very high for the following reasons. Firstly, all terminals 6 (including those in idle mode) can access services, and secondly, services communicate via messages in which they embed their data such as files, images, sounds, etc.
This known technology handles these service-related messages in the same manner as voice and data messages of the radio telecommunications network. Thus, such use of services can cause a reduction in the quality of service provided by the network. Furthermore, the MSC-PSTN interworking function needs to be adapted to cope with this message flow.
The present invention seeks to mitigate the above disadvantages.
Accordingly, the present invention consists of a radio telecommunications system for facilitating access of information services by a subscriber terminal, the system including a plurality of base stations serving a respective geographical area and for establishing a radio communications link with the subscriber terminal, and characterised by a plurality of information host platforms, one of each thereof being associated with a respective base station in which each information host platform incorporates information services local to said respective geographical area.
The subscriber terminal may comprise a mobile telephone. The mobile telephone may be connected to a computer terminal thereby allowing a user to down-load accessed information.
The present invention overcomes the difficulties mentioned above by allowing local access to the services. For example, in a GSM network, this access could be local to the cell coverage area of a particular base station. The host platform is equivalent to the Agent Meeting Place (AMP) as discussed above and will be referred to hereafter as an Agent Transceiver System (ATS). Each ATS is therefore associated with a geographical area. However, it does not need to be physically located in the area it is associated with.
An ATS hosts or accesses any service in the xe2x80x9ccyberspacexe2x80x9d and provides a meeting place for Agents linked to users, services or information. Being logical, several Agent Transceiver Systems can be hosted by the same machine. An ATS network links the individual Agent Transceiver System and allows transmission of data and code between the Agents Transceiver Systems.
The invention relies on the radio communications network only for communication facilities between the base stations and the subscriber terminals. As a consequence, local services communicate directly and locally with the users, keeping the added load to the radio communications network to a minimum.
In general, three families of methods can be identified by the present invention; management of users, management of services and management of meetings.
Managing users; An ATS hosts User Representative Agents (URA). This kind of representative follows the terminal, filters its messages and manages the services for the terminal. The URA allows control of the volume of information exchanged between a base station and the terminal and allows optimisation of the use of radio frequency links.
The protocol describing how the URA follows the terminal around in the service world forms another aspect of the invention and is described below.
The URA associated with a particular terminal may comprise personalised data such as special dietary requirements or mobility requirements of the user which would be useful when selecting restaurants or hotels in the user""s local or geographical area. Agent mobility (either code or data mobility) is handled by the ATS network and does not generate messages in the mobile telecommunications network except in the radio frequency link between the base station and the terminal and only when the terminal is sending or receiving services. Agents can move from a terminal to the ATS and also move to service arenas like the Internet or to any Agent Meeting Place and vice versa.
Managing services; Services are represented on the ATS by Service Representative Agents (SRA). Agents publicise their skills via Yellow Pages by describing the function they provide. The Yellow Pages are local to the ATS and may be accessed by other SRA""s and URA""s. Remote services like Internet based services or centralised services may be accessed in one of two ways. I.e. either by searching for appropriate SRA""s at the ATS, or by using search mechanisms such as Yellow Pages, Internet search engines, etc.
Managing meetings; Each ATS possesses White Pages where the names of the local Agents are stored in order to facilitate communications. Agent Transceiver Systems are meeting places for numerous URA""s, SRA""s, thus every interaction as possible, e.g. users to users, services to services, services to users, users to services. These interactions do not have to be restricted to two parties. Of course, the services and users also have access to information in the ATS. The ATS is in charge of security checks, by entrusting rights to Agents to access data, services and to use ATS resources such as memory and processing power. As the ATS manages security, it is best suited to handling billing of services. This billing may be connected to the billing of the radio telecommunications network.
Some of the benefits of the present invention are as follows. As each ATS is a logical entity, the network deployment can start from a single centralised ATS and be extended gradually and transparently according to the demand of services. The ATS may be owned and controlled by telecommunications operators or by service providers. Users can own and control their own data. This data may either be stored inside the terminal or in the URA. The data may be used by the URA according to a policy chosen by the user. The URA""s are representative of the user on ATS, thus they permit customisation of services. In addition to the usual filter capabilities, the URA permits browsing for new services and for learning user habits. A URA optimises the use of available radio frequency bandwidth by defining the interests, preferences and needs of the user at the service layer. Thus, unwanted message or services (such as advertising) can be discarded by the URA and will never be transmitted over the radio frequency link.
Providing a service simply requires advertising it in Yellow Pages, or sending a SRA to the ATS, thereby providing direct access to the user. An ATS is an open platform capable of offering Internet-like service development. The invention creates new business opportunities in the field of electronic commerce and services in general. The invention gives a network operator control of this environment and the control of the information exchange between the radio telecommunications network and the service area. This is a keystone for mobile access to local services.